• Can Accelerated Partner
    Therapy in Primary Care
    (APTPC) improve outcomes
    of partner notification?

    You are being invited to take part in this research study. Before you decide, it is important for you to understand why the research is being done and what it will involve. Please take time to read the following information carefully and discuss it with others if you wish.

    If you wish, ask us if there is anything that is not clear or if you would like more information. Take time to decide whether or not you wish to take part. Thank you for reading this.

    Taking part in this research is voluntary. It is up to you to decide to take part. Deciding not to take part will make no difference to the standard of care you receive. You will simply be asked to attend a sexual health clinic or attend your GP for routine assessment and treatment.

    Contact us

    APT Primary Care Research Team
    Centre for Immunology & Infectious Disease: Sexual Health & HIV
    Barts & The London School of Medicine & Dentistry
    Barts Sexual Health Centre,
    Kenton & Lucas Wing,
    St Bartholomew's Hospital
    London, EC1A 7BE, UK

    Tel: +44 (0) 20 7882 2315

  • What is the purpose
    of the study?

    Sexual health services across the UK diagnose and treat more and more sexually transmitted infections (STIs) such as Chlamydia each year. When a person is diagnosed with Chlamydia it is very important for his/her recent sexual partner(s) to get treated as well. Otherwise that person will be at risk of getting re-infected and other people may get infected in the future.

    However, it is often very difficult for people to get their partner’s or ex-partners to go to a sexual health clinic or get an appointment at a GP surgery. We are interested in whether we can make this process easier and help get more people who may have been exposed to Chlamydia treated quickly and easily.

    We have designed two new ways of getting sexual partners of people with Chlamydia assessed and treated quickly. We call these two new methods: Accelerated Partner Therapy Primary Care (APTPC).

    We now need to see whether these methods will work on a larger scale in NHS Primary Care (community) Trusts by offering them to all patients with Chlamydia, and their sexual partners as part of a research study, which we are calling the APT Primary Care Study Trial (APTPC). 

    We need to understand whether patients and their sexual partners find them acceptable and whether using these methods makes it easier for partners to get treated.

    These methods could include the possibility of giving patients testing kits for their partners, supplying tablets or a prescription for a local chemist, and or a telephone assessment by a clinic health care professional. If APTPC is successful it could lead to lower rates of STIs in the community.

  • Why have I
    been chosen?

    We are asking all patients with a new diagnosis of Chlamydia and their sexual partners to take part in the APT Primary Care study.

  • What does taking part in APT
    Primary Care study involve?

    Normally when we find that a person has Chlamydia we try and get their sexual partner(s) treated by asking the person with the infection to contact their recent sexual partners and advise them to attend a sexual health clinic for treatment. This is called patient referral. However, as we said before, it is often very difficult for partners or ex-partners to come to clinic or their GP to get antibiotic treatment. 

    So as part of this research study in addition to (patient referral), you will be randomly assigned to one of the new ways of getting antibiotic treatment.

    This means that you will either be offered antibiotics after you have telephoned the study clinic hotline for a telephone consultation with a specialist sexual health adviser at Barts Sexual Health Centre, (This is called Accelerated Partner Therapy: Hotline) and you (or someone else on your behalf) can collect a treatment pack from a local chemist, or a sexual health clinic.

    OR you will be offered antibiotics after you have had a consultation in a private room with a Pharmacist trained in sexual health in a local Pharmacy. 

    No information from your consultation will be kept at the chemist, it will be sent electronically to Barts Sexual Health Centre, where the information will be kept securely according to strict NHS procedures. (This is called Accelerated Partner Therapy: Pharmacy ).

    With your permission we will telephone you in four to six weeks after you have been treated and check how you got on with your treatment. This will help us compare hte results from the different methods of contacting sexual partners to see which one works best.

  • What are the benefits
    of taking part?

    Taking part in the study means that you may be able to get treated for the infection quickly and easily without needing to come to clinic or visiting your GP. 

    We do not believe that there will be any possible harm to your health as a result of taking part. 

  • What happens if
    there is a problem?

    We would not expect you to suffer any harm or injury because of your participation in this study. If you are harmed by taking part in this study, there is no special compensation arrangement. If you are harmed due to someone’s negligence, then you may have grounds for legal action but you may have to pay your legal costs.
     
     

    Regardless of this, if you wish to complain or have any concerns about any aspect of the way you have been approached or treated during the course of this study, the normal National Health Service complaints mechanisms should be available to you.
     

    Please contact Patient Advisory Liaison Service (PALS) if you have any concerns regarding the care you have received, or as an initial point of contact if you have a complaint.

    Please telephone 020 7377 6335, minicom 020 7943 1350, or email pals@bartsandthelondon.nhs.uk, you can also visit PALS by asking at any hospital reception